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Reinsurance to Close at Lloyd's and Related Issues (Gisg Convention, 10

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Reinsurance to Close at Lloyd's and Related Issues (Gisg Convention, 10 REINSURANCE TO CLOSE AT LLOYD’S AND RELATED ISSUES (GISG CONVENTION, 10/90) H. Rice and M.G. White 507 RBINSURANCETO CLOSE AT LLOYD'S AND RELATED ISSUES. GIRO 1990 SECTION 1 BACKGROUNDNOTES SECTION 2 SOME DISCUSSION POINTS SECTION 3 NOTES ON DATA A. RICE M.G. WHITE (547383 509 REINSURANCETO CLOSE AT LLOYD'S AND RELATED ISSUES. SECTION 1 - BACKGROUNDNOTES (MGW) 1. 0 Preamble These notes have been prepared in response to the increasing interest in Lloyd's expressed at the 1989 GIRO Conference. For the purposes of the discussion at 1990 GIRO, Section 3 is not essential. It was felt that some notes on data would be of practical interest, but they are not essential to understanding the structure of Lloyd's. The authors are aware that many readers will have little knowledge of Lloyd's, whilst others will be very familar with Lloyd's. In order that everyone can gain something from the session, these notes attempt to give a brief outline of Lloyd's structure, concentrating on those aspects of the structure which will be of most interest to Actuaries. It is hoped that this outline, together with the discussion points in Section 2, will be sufficient to stimulate a debate. We have tried to concentrate on facts and to avoid expressing too many opinions. If the facts are wrong, this is our own responsibility, and any views which we may have expressed are our own, and not those of our employers. We would welcome correction on any aspects, especially from any Syndicate Auditors present at the conference. 1. 1 Names, Syndicates and Years of Account. 1.1.1 ANames If you have a Lloyd's insurance policy, it is placed at Lloyd's, not with Lloyd's. The cover is provided by - individual "Names", who each participate in accordance with their share of the.syndicate(s) with whom the policy has been placed. In the old days, the names of all the Names (1) on the risk used to be stamped on the back of the policy document; this is no longer practical, so policies now only show which syndicates are involved and the proportion of the risk which each syndicate is taking. Names are on a risk "each for his own part and not one for another". If an individual Name fails to meet a loss, recourse is had to Lloyd's Central Fund, not to the other Names on the syndicate. The Central Fund is maintained by a subscription levied on the entire body of Names. 1.1.2 Syndicates. A syndicate is not a separate legal person like a company. It is merely a convenient way of grouping Names together to accept insurance risks. Each syndicate has its own underwriter who accepts risks and settles claims on its behalf. 510 -2- 1.1.3 Years of Account. The Names constituting a syndicate change each year. Whilst there is a tendency for Names to stay on a syndicate for a number of years, some will join, some will leave and others will change their planned participation. So knowing that Syndicate 999 has written a risk is not sufficiently precise - one needs to know which year of account has written the risk to define which group of Names is involved and what their shares of the risk are. Years of Account are not closed until the end of the third year, at which point the liabilities are usually reinsured with the subsequent set of Names on the same syndicate, i.e. with the next year of account. The following simplified timetable may make the process clearer. Syndicate 999 - Timetable for 1991 Year of Account. 1) During 1990 Decide which Names will be on the syndicate for 1991, and what shares they will have. 2) During 1991 Write risks, receive premiums, pay claims. 3) As at 31.12.91 Look at accumulated fund, make solvency calculations. 4) During 1992 Stop writing risks (the 1992 Names will now be writing risks), but still receive premiums and pay claims. 5)(a) As at 31.12.92 Look at accumulated fund, make solvency calculations. S)(b) As at 31.12.92 Write the final risk, a reinsurance of the entire remaining liabilities of the 1990 Year of Account. Look at the premium received, make solvency calculations. 6) During 1993 Continue to receive premiums and pay claims. 7) As at 31.12.93 Pay a reinsurance premium to close the account (RITC premium), normally to the 1992 Names. Balance of fund is profit if positive, loss if negative. 511 -3- Thus during the syndicate's third year of operation, it is effectively carrying the liabilities of all prior years' run-off, to the extent that these have been reinsured through to the syndicate. 1 1.1.4 Names' Assets. Names own a share of the assets held within each syndicate they are on, just as they have a share of the liabilities. They also have other funds at Lloyd's (known basically as deposits and personal reserves) and they also have to show a certain level of net means available to meet losses if necessary. These means are calculated after meeting any solvency deficiencies within their syndicates. The detailed capital requirements are not covered in these notes. 1. 2 How to Find out about Lloyd's Rules. Lloyd's Rules are largely contained in Byelaws made under the Lloyd's Act of 1982. These Byelaws are publicly available, and if practitioners want to get the full picture on any aspect they should consult these and discuss any queries with the relevant Corporation department. Practitioners should certainly not rely on these notes, which are intended to give an outline only. 1. 3 What RITC is 1. 3. 1 Defined in a byelaw (number 6 of 1985) to be an agreement where one group of Names reinsures the entire portfolio of a syndicate made up of another group of Names. It does not have to be a contract between the successive Names on one syndicate, nor do the managing agents involved have to be the 8 ame. Byelaw No. 17 of 1989, the run-off byelaw, in which actuaries have a role, only comes into play if a syndicate fails to close at the normal time. 1. 3. 2 RITC is a reinsurance, not a transfer of liability. The original contracts of insurance written at Lloyd's are between the Names who wrote each policy and the policyholders. If, say, the Names on a 1990 year of account failed to meet their oblisations. the nolicvholders who had bought policies from earlier names would ha;e recourse to the 1989 Names, and then the 1988 Names, etc., etc., - IN THEORY. 1.3.3 There arereally no rules about how much premium should be paid for RITC - sEe one. It should be "equitable" between the Names involved. It could be argued that this is obvious as the underwriter(s) and managing agent(s) involved are acting on behalf of both parties. However, the requirement has been set down specifically in a byelaw, the Syndicate Accounting Byelaw, number 11 of 1987. The byelaw has some explanatory notes which have no statutory force, and these include some guidance as to good practice when determining RITC. The guidance is of a "things to look 512 -4- out for" nature and does not claim to be comprehensive in any way. It is a myth that discounting, whether implicit or explicit, is forbidden, as it is also a myth that there should be no profit element in RITC premiums to pay for any risk involved. The managing agent's task when acting on behalf of two sets of Names could perhaps best be described as being to achieve a willinq buyer, willinq seller price taking into account all the factors involved. 1. 4 What the RITC is not RITC is not in any way determined by the solvency instructions or by tax considerations. However, being aware of the way in which the contract will come into the tax calculations for both parties and the solvency release or strain involved should theoretically have some effect on the "willing buyer, willing seller" determination, just as a Life Office might look for a higher return on capital if a new product involves particularly high new business strain. 1. 5 What the Tax Rules are relatins to deductibility of RITC 1. 5. 1 The following extract is from the 1988 Income and Corporation Taxes Act. '1(a) in computing for the purposes of income tax the profits or gains of the continuing member's business as a member of the reinsured syndicate, the amount of the premium shall be deductible as an expense of his only to the extent that it is shown not to exceed a fair and reasonable assessment of the value of the liabilities in respect of which it is payable; and (b) in computing for those purposes the profits or gains of his business as a member of the reinsurer syndicate, those profits or gains shall be reduced by an amount equal to any part of a premium which, by virtue of paragraph (a) above, is not deductible as an expense of his as a member of the reinsured syndicate; and the assessment referred to above shall be taken to be fair and reasonable only if it is arrived at with a view to producing the result that a profit does not accrue to the member to whom the premium is payable but that he does not suffer a loss." 1.5.2 In practice, it is not quite correct to say that the Revenue "impose" a disallowance.
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